I have made this cake numerous times and also taught some friends how to make this cake. This time round, I decided to make it more sophisticated, in the form of layered cake, something like an opera cake. I only managed 2 layers of pandan sponge though I planned for 3. That’s alright, the cake turned out quite classy. Here’s the recipe.
(makes a 9 inch square layered cake)
For the pandan sponge
Ingredients (I used 1.5 times this recipe to make a 9 inch square cake)
- 150g top flour
- 150g caster sugar
- 105g canola oil
- 75g milk
- 75g coconut milk
- 9 eggs separated
- 2 tsp pandan paste
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cream of tartar (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven at 170 degrees and line the bottom of the baking trays with baking paper. I prepared 2 trays, one for the white coconut sponge and another for the pandan sponge.
- Sift the flour and salt together and set aside.
- In a small pot, heat the oil to about 70 degrees or until you see streaks in the oil.
- Pour in the sifted flour and whisk to combine.
- Add the milk and coconut milk and combine.
- Add the yolks and whisk till combined.
- In a clean mixing bowl, whisk egg whites till foamy and add the cream of tar tar (this is optional, it works to stabilise the egg whites) and whisk till soft peak.
- Add the sugar a spoonful at a time and beat till firm peak.
- Add a third of the meringue into the batter and use a hand whisk to combine the egg whites and the batter. You do not need to be too gentle a this time because this step is just to make the batter to be at a similar consistency with the meringue for easier combining.
- Fold in the rest of the meringue gently till the egg whites is no longer visible. Do not over mix. Pour the white batter into one of the prepared baking tin.
- Add the pandan paste and fold gently to combine. Pour the green batter into the other lined tin.
- Bake both trays in the preheated oven for 15 minutes and lower the oven temperature to 145 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes before unmoulding.
For the Gula Melaka Coconut Filling
Ingredients
- 200g gula melaka, cut into small pieces
- 150ml water
- 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
Method
- Heat the gula melaka and the water in a saucepan and let it simmer for about 10 minutes till the solution thickens.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature before adding the coconut and mix to combine.
- Leave to chill in fridge till ready to use.
For the cream
Ingredients
- 2 cup of cold whipping cream
- 2 tbsp of icing sugar
Method
- Whip the cold cream and the icing sugar till stiff peak and leave to chill in fridge till ready to assemble.
To assemble
- Cut the pandan and coconut sponge into 2 layers using a cake leveler or a long knife, making sure the layers are as even as possible.
- Start the layering by placing a pandan layer on a cake board or a serving plate.
- Using a piping bag fitted with a normal round tip, pipe the whipped cream evenly on the pandan layer.
- Place a coconut sponge on top of the cream.
- Add a layer of gula melaka filling on top of the coconut sponge and layer on another coconut sponge.
- Add another layer of cream before placing the pandan sponge on top.
- Add a thin layer of cream on top and sprinkle with desiccated coconut.
- Decorate as desired.
- Chill in fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Using a sharp long knife, trim the outside of the cake to reveal the layers built in.
This cake is very well received and I like to call it the ondeh opera cake. It requires a little effort to keep the layers neat, but it is very satisfying when you see neat layers when the cake is cut. So, this is the mothers’ day cake for the year 2018. For the 3 wonderful mothers I have, my mum, my godmum and my mother in law. Happy Mothers’ Day!